Police released on Sunday a video of a man wanted for robbing and assaulting a woman inside a subway station in Jackson Heights last week.
According to law enforcement sources, the trouble began at 10:40 p.m. on May 22 inside the 74 Street-Roosevelt Avenue subway station, where the suspect tried to engage a 44-year-old woman as she swiped her MetroCard through the turnstile.
Even though the woman initially ignored the man, police said, he followed her inside the station and continued to harass her. Authorities said this led to a brief argument, during which the perpetrator grabbed the woman’ purse from her shoulder and ran toward the staircase leading to the street.
Police said the woman followed the crook and eventually caught up to her. When she did, law enforcement sources said, the bandit turned to her and kicked her numerous times in the chest and stomach. He then took $300 in cash out of the woman’s purse, threw it on the floor and ran out of the station, heading northbound on 74th Street.
The incident was reported to the 110th Precinct and the NYPD Transit Bureau; the victim suffered injuries not considered life-threatening.
The NYPD described the suspect as a black man between 25 and 35 years of age, standing between 6 foot 2 inches and 6 foot 4 inches tall, weighing 155 pounds with a goatee. He was last seen wearing a Chicago Bulls baseball cap, a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.
Anyone with information regarding the robbery or the suspect’s whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit their website or send a text message to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
